Carne Asada Marinade

What to do on a weekend with fantastic weather? It's time to grill. Especially time to grill using some of our own garden produce! Since it was a slow, lazy Saturday morning, I was in a quandary as to what to grill today. No plans whatsoever as to what to grill, except picking some of our homegrown poblanos. Stuffing  and then grilling them. I mentioned this on Twitter, and one of my Twitter friends mentioned Mexican. Oh yeah, what better goes with stuffed, grilled poblanos? Carne Asada. Pretty much it means, "grilled meat". You marinate that meat (usually skirt steak) in a wonderful, aromatic marinade for a couple of hours. Then flash grill (quickly sear) that piece of meat, and you're ready to enjoy some terrific Mexican food. Here's my marinade recipe.

Carne Asada Marinade

2 jalapeno peppers seeded and minced (I used 2 from my garden)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
2 limes, juiced
1 large shallot, minced
1 teaspoon raw sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon fresh Mexican oregano, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)
2 tablespoons red wine (I use cabernet)
1 tablespoon tequila (optional)
1/2 cup olive oil

As you can see below, I put everything in a small container and shake it up, then pour on the meat. Refrigerate the marinating meat until it's time to grill.

Carne Asada with stuffed poblano (from my garden), refried beans, and tortillas - hot off the grill!

Brat Bites

My husband got a new grill for his birthday, and he decided that he would christen it on the 4th of July with a new recipe, Brat Bites.

Brat Bites

• Bratwurst - 1 package - each brat cut into 8 pieces
• Onions - 1 large - sliced thin with a mandolin slicer
• Jalapenos - 3-4 large - sliced thin with a mandolin slicer
• Bacon - 1 package - slice the strips of bacon into thirds
• Toothpicks - soaked in water for at least an hour

Take one piece of bacon, and place some thinly sliced onions on top.

Add a brat slice on top of the onion,
then add a slice of jalapeno on top of the brat.

Bring the bacon up over the top of the jalapeno
and secure with the water-soaked toothpick.

Hubby uses a wire rack, but the brat bites can be placed right on the grill.
It's easier for him to place and take off of the grill all at once.

Grill at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes with indirect heat.

Looking great!

Perfect! Ready to eat!

Enjoy!

First day of indoor seed planting

Last year we bought two Burpee seed kits, containing a heating pad, a tray and a cover. We have plenty of 3" plastic cups, so used those as the planters. We were all ready to start planting our seeds for this year. We first drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the plastic cups to allow water drainage. Then we added our dirt. Dropped one seed in each dirt-filled planter, covered it a little bit, then watered. Placed the cover on the seed tray, which was already sitting on top of the plugged-in heating pad. Ready to rock n' roll!

Here are my plants that I just seeded indoors. Two habaneros, two poblanos, 16 giant jalapenos and 16 cubanelle peppers. I can't wait to see them sprout through the dirt!

Getting ready for the 2013 gardening season!

Today is the start of my growing season! I am a little late this year. Usually I start at least 2 months ahead of time (Mother's Day planting in ground). This year, I was away for a few days in Maui and didn't want my seedlings to go without water, and perish. Which brings us to this day. My gardening day.

I'm going to do something different this year. I am buying tomato plants instead of growing them from seed. For a few years now, I keep getting blossom end rot on at least 50% of my tomatoes. It's not the soil. It's not just because roma (shape) tomatoes usually have that issue. I grew Mortgage Lifter tomatoes from seed last year and got the same problem. They were nice round tomatoes and still had the problem. So now, I will try just growing a plant and see how that turns out.

But, on the other hand, since I've never had a problem with growing peppers from seed, I am going to grow my usual jalapenos, poblanos and cubanelles, and one new one. I never grew habaneros before, but my husband wanted us to try them.

and 

As you can see, I am a Burpee fan. And yes, I did buy my tomato plants from Burpee.com - A brand new tomato plant that I can't wait to try. The SuperSauce Hybrid Tomato.   

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tomatoes/paste/tomato-supersauce-hybrid-prod003154.html

Let's see if I get blossom end rot on those suckers! I can't wait to get them in. Well, closer to Mother's Day, I hope!

More pictures to come! 

Happy growing!